Little East Conference announces preseason soccer polls

Aug 29, 2007

PLYMOUTH, N.H. - The Little East Conference
pre-season soccer coaches' polls were announced Wednesday and
Plymouth State University is picked to finish runner-up in the
men's race and fifth in the women's standings. The votes were cast
by the conference's head soccer coaches, and the polls were
released by LEC Commissioner William M. Moore.

The Panther men's soccer team, which captured
the LEC regular season title last year and finished runner-up in
the conference tournament, received one first-place vote in this
year's balloting and finished second overall with 42 points.
Defending tournament champion and regular season co-runner-up Keene
State College got six top votes and was picked to win the title,
earning 48 points, while Eastern Connecticut State University got
the other first-place vote and finished third with 30 points. Rhode
Island College had 28 points to round out the top half of the poll.

The Panther women's soccer team, which finished
in a three-way tie for fourth place in last year's LEC standings,
finished fifth in this year's poll with 25 points. Defending
regular-season and tournament champion Western Connecticut topped
the voting with all seven possible first-place votes (coaches could
not vote for their own team) and 49 points, while 2005 champion
Eastern Connecticut was second with 41 points. Keene State got one
top vote and finished third with 38 points, and Rhode Island
College ended up fourth in the poll, just ahead of PSU.

The teams play each other in a round-robin schedule over the
next two months. The LEC soccer tournaments are scheduled for the
first week in November, with the champions receiving an automatic
bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.